


Of babysitting and (potential) kitchen fires

by EleenaDume



Series: Spop fics! [13]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Best Friend Squad (She-Ra), Canon Lesbian Relationship, Canon Relationships, Catra is babysitting, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, F/M, Future Fic, Glimmer needs sleep, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Joking Around, Kidfic, Married Couples, Mostly Fluff, PDA, Post-Canon, Some angst, The Glimbow is actually relevant and on screen now, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, thinking about adoption, yes one of the Glimbow children is named Arrow because dumb puns is the hill we die on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24631924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EleenaDume/pseuds/EleenaDume
Summary: Arrow loves auntie Catra and the bedtime stories she always tells about her adventures with auntie Adora and Arrow’s parents.Catra might be enjoying babysitting a little too much.Meanwhile, Adora is unsure whether or not she would be a good mother.And Glimmer just really, really needs some sleep.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: Spop fics! [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1791085
Comments: 8
Kudos: 202





	1. Chapter 1

“That day, the most selfless girl in the galaxy learned that it was alright to choose herself for once – that it was the right choice to be selfish sometimes. And that’s how she saved the galaxy. The end.”

She clapped her hands together to empathize the ending of the story.

The little girl with the violet hair looked up at her. There was an excited glint in her eyes.

“Start over, I want to hear the story again! Please!”

Catra laughed as she ruffled the girl’s hair.

“Nice try, sweetie, but the time has come for little Arrow to go to sleep, because Queen Sparkles will show up soon and throw me out of your room if you don’t.”

Arrow pouted.

“Come on, auntie Catra. Just one more time. Auntie Adora can keep mom distracted in the meantime.”

The adult woman stroked the child’s head again and giggled softly. Damn, she really liked this kid.

“As much as I like the way you think, Glitter, your mom will end me if I keep you awake any longer. And I think she’s pretty near issuing a decree about how much I get to talk about Adora here before I must be forcefully removed from the building at all costs,” She joked.

The child laughed.

“But mommy and dad are just as bad!”

“You’re the cheekiest girl in the entire universe. I’m so proud of you.” Catra hugged her gently. “Come on, little one. Time to sleep. I’ll tell you more stories tomorrow.”

Arrow squeaked happily, snuggled up to her aunt and caved.

“Okay, fine. But only if you promise.”

The adult smiled softly. Arrow was just about her favorite person in the entire universe – except for Adora, of course.

The remaining members of the best friend squad were pretty close behind, though.

“Of course. I promise, Glitter.”

She gently tucked the girl in the cupcake pajamas into bed.

“Wanna sleep lights on or lights off today?”

Glimmer and Adora watched Catra from the doorframe as she tugged Arrow in and then started singing her to sleep.

Adora was pretty close to melting into a puddle right then and there. Instead, she almost started crying and rubbed her wedding band nervously, all the universe’s love in her eyes in that very moment.

The scene alone was enough to turn her head all over again, and that wasn’t even including the fact that Catra’s singing was down right enchanting, and she would have happily listened to nothing but that for the rest of her life.

“Adora? ... Adora?” Her best friend gave her a gentle nudge. “Hey, Brightmoon to She-Ra, you in there?”

The blonde jerked extremely startled. 

She’d been in a completely different world for the last couple of minutes.

“Yeah, uh, I was just-”

“Zoning out at Catra again. I know.” Adora went beet red. Glimmer winked at her and laughed softly. Despite her visible exhaustion, she still insisted on teasing her best friend. “I’m still surprised how good she is with kids. Arrow loves her to the stars and back.”

“Yeah, I know...”

She-Ra was still way too mesmerized by the scene to take her eyes off her wife and her niece.  
“Have you two thought about it yet? You know, the... adoption thing we talked about?”

Well, that jerked the warrior princess back into reality, alright.

She turned away from Catra and Arrow, instead facing the wall across from the child’s room.

“I- we- uh-” she stammered. “I... don’t know. I think I’d be a terrible mom.”

Glimmer shook her head and looked at her best friend sternly.

“Why would you think that? That’s complete nonsense.”

“Well, I’m kind of a complete mess, and extremely chaotic and clumsy and- I tried cooking something recently, and then Catra hugged me from behind while I was doing it, and then my brain short-circuited and I almost burnt down the kitchen because I still can’t believe I’m married to Catra and it’s been ten years-” She was once again talking in that _very Adora_ way where Glimmer wasn’t sure if she even took a single breath while sentence after sentence came out of her mouth in such a speed that it was hard to understand everything. “-and, I mean, I can’t take care of a child! I can barely take care of myself, and-”

Her best friend put her hands on the shoulders of the blonde.

“Adora. Breathe.”

“...right. That... That’s a... thing I should be doing.” She listened, took a couple of long-drawn-out breaths... and slowly, she started calming down again. “I’m sorry. It’s just... I don’t know if I would be a good mother.”

Glimmer smiled at her and pinched her cheek.

“Of course you would be a good mom. I mean, you’re not Catra, but you have watched Arrow before, and you were pretty good at it. And kids love you.”

Adora let out a long sigh.

“Yeah, maybe, but... I don’t know.”

“Hey, nobody’s forcing you to do anything, alright?” Glimmer hugged her. “If that’s not something you want, that’s perfectly fine. Kids aren’t for everyone, and you two are great together on your own. You don’t need kids to be happy.”

Adora shook her head.

“Yeah, no, I know, that... that’s not it. I... I actually think we would both like to have one, but.., the only mother figure we had back at the horde was Shadow Weaver, and I think we’re both afraid we could end up being the kind of parent she was. Catra more so than me.”

Glimmer stopped short.

That though alone seemed completely insane to her.

Adora was just about the nicest, kindest person she had ever met – except for maybe Bow –, while Shadow Weaver was most definitely cruelest, most manipulative asshole she could think of.

And while Catra’s story was... more complicated on that behalf, she still couldn’t imagine her being the kind of mother Shadow Weaver had been. Catra had learned from her mistakes, had overcome her fears and weaknesses and had become a better person along the way.

Shadow Weaver had never learned, never changed, and while her last moments had been a sacrifice, it had been one of cowardice more than one of courage.

A dead person didn’t have to face the mistakes she made. Didn’t have to deal with the people they hurt – the hate in their eyes and the words of anger, sadness and spite that would get thrown at them otherwise.

Catra had faced all that. She’d worked to complete exhaustion to rebuild the cities she’d helped destroy, and she’d went to the end of the galaxy and back to prove that she’d truly changed.  
Despite that, some people hadn’t forgiven her, and they never would. 

Some people still thought Adora deserved better, and that Catra was treating her badly and should be banished from the planet for good for everything she’d done. 

That wasn’t happening... and Catra had learned to live with and accept what people thought of her. She knew she’d hurt others. And as much as she would have liked to turn back time to right her wrongs... she couldn’t. 

What others thought of her wasn’t her choice to make. If she had hurt people too much for them to ever give her another chance, that was valid, and she accepted it. 

It wasn’t her choice to make.

That made her a much bigger person than Shadow Weaver had ever been.

“Are you serious? Neither of you is anything like her, and you never will be. The way Catra treats Arrow, how she tucks her into bed and sings her to sleep... that’s something my mom used to do when I was little.” For a moment, there was a glint of sad melancholy in her eyes. “Mom would have loved Arrow. And Catra would have driven her absolutely bonkers... but if things hadn’t happened the way they did... I think she would have liked her too.”

Adora pulled her best friend into a hug.

  
“I...” She started, but Glimmer shook her head and interrupted he.  
“Shadow Weaver wasn’t like this at all, was she?”

That was a pretty clear signal.

She didn’t want to talk or think about this any longer. At least not right now.

Adora could accept that and just continued on with the conversation as if nothing had happened.

That was part of their silent agreement when it came to talking about Angella.

“No, she wouldn’t have. Shadow Weaver was never the singing type.” She raised her hands and wagged her fingers in a silly imitation of a spell caster, hoping that would lift the mood again – at least a little. “She was more like ‘uuuuuh, I’m so evil and mean, and if you don’t go to sleep then the weeping princess will show up and murder you, or maybe I will, if you annoy me too much!’...”

She stuck out her tongue.

Glimmer giggled, and Adora joined in.

She could laugh about it today... at least a little. 

That had been different for a long time.

“Hey Adora.” The two of them spun around. Apparently Arrow had fallen asleep by now, because Catra was now standing right next to them, the door closed behind her so they could speak loudly without waking the child up again. She looked at her wife all lovey-dovey for a moments then turned to Glimmer, grinned and bowed playfully. “Queen Sparkles, I humbly report your daughter has been put to bed and is asleep now.”

That earned her a gentle nudge against the shoulder from said queen, who rolled her eyes as she laughed.

“Why are you like this?”

Catra gave her a cheeky grin and winked at her.

“What can I say, it’s part of my charm.”

She then put an arm around her wife gently, who had finally stopped zoning out enough to properly greet her.

“Hey Kitty.”

Catra rolled her eyes.

“I told you to stop calling me that.”

Adora pulled her close and looked at her smugly.

“You love it when I call you that.”

“I do not.”

Their faces were now merely inches away from each other.

Truth be told, Catra had given up on ever getting rid of the nickname when Adora had used it for the first time several years ago.   
By now, she was sure just about all of Etheria knew about the dumb nickname – that maybe, just maybe, did send a nice feeling of comfortable warmth through her body when Adora said it. 

The annoyed facade she put up was nothing more than that – just part of their playful flirting.

Their kiss was unsatisfyingly short. 

Adora broke away almost immediately, grimacing. She wiped her mouth.

“...why do you taste like glitter?”

Catra, who had been kind of irritated and hurt until now, started cackling.

“So I might have given the kid a goodnight kiss to the forehead when I tucked her in, sue me.” She turned to Glimmer. “Sparkles’ husband kisses her all the time – I wonder how he does it.”

Her friend and her wife joined in the laughing really soon.

“I’ll have to thank my daughter for finding the absolutely only method I can think of that can keep you two from constantly making out in front of me,” Glimmer chuckled, smiling to herself.

Those two were almost disgustingly cute.

Almost.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but there’s nothing in the entire universe powerful enough to keep our hands off each other for long,” Adora commented truthfully.

The Horde, a war, a collapsing reality and an army consisting of robots and the clones of an insane maniac hadn’t stopped them. Keeping them away from each other for long was a task that would have required something a lot more complicated than a little glitter. 

She put her arm around her wife’s waist and kissed her cheek.

Glimmer had a hard time keeping herself from commenting the purring that ensued as the smile on her lips grew wider.

  
She just looked at the two of them silently for a while until she spoke up again.

“Oh, and Catra... thanks for babysitting. I really appreciate it a lot.”

Spending time with them was nice... but she also started to feel her exhaustion more with every passing minute and wanted nothing more than to just collapse into her bed and sleep for a small eternity... or at least for approximately an hour before she would be woken up again.

The thought alone made her head spin.

But she was really, really thankful.

Catra had been immensely helpful when it came to watching Arrow, especially during these past few weeks.

“Hey, you know I love the kid. Anytime.” The brunette smiled. “I forgot to ask... how was your meeting?”

“Please don’t ask.” The Queen of Brightmoon grimaced and shuddered slightly. “It dragged on forever, and I was so tired that I feel like I missed out on half of what was being said.”

Adora shrugged.

“She fell asleep halfway through the meeting. We voted on whether or not we should let her sleep. It was the only unanimous decision of the day.”

Catra chuckled.

“Seems like you might have to be put to bed just like your daughter, huh, your majesty?” She joked.  
Glimmer rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Believe me, I wish it was that easy. Angie is an absolute nightmare. I mean, I love her, and I would do anything for her... but I swear, neither me nor Bow has slept more than two hours at a time in the last three weeks. The kid has incredible lungs. And Adora‘s sleep-wake rhythm.”

The pink-haired woman groaned.

Catra nudged her wife gently.

“We’re really missing out, huh?”

At least for the first few seconds, Adora was certain her wife was kidding... but there was something in her voice...

„Speaking of missing out... what would you say if we took the little one for tonight?“ Adora said as if out of the blue. You two really need sleep and some time to yourselves, and...” She looked at her best friend sincerely, then glanced towards Catra in a meaningful way. “What do you think, Glimmer?”  
“...Adora, are you sure?”

She-Ra nodded energetically.

“Of course. And even know how to warm up milk without burning the kitchen down by now... I think.”

She gave them a pretty unconvincing smile and an even less convincing thumbs up.

Catra looked at her wife, eyebrow raised.

“Sweetheart, do all of us a favor and just wake me up, alright? I’m not in the mood for another three o’clock-shower by Mermista.”

“...Or I’ll just wake Catra,” Adora assured her, giving an affirmative nod and smiling at Glimmer. “Come on...”

“Okay. Alright. But if something goes wrong or you need anything or-”

Adora put a hand on her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

“Now you’re the one who needs to remember how to breathe.”

Glimmer closed her eyes and nodded as she calmed down. Sometimes she really worried too much – especially when it came to her children.

She understood her mother much better these days.

“We’ll manage, Sparkles. Don’t overthink it so much. You really need sleep, damn it.”

Catra nudged her gently.

Glimmer smiled softly as she flung her arms around her two best friends.

“You two are such disasters. I love you so much...”

“Awwww. We love you, too.” 

Adora was her usual, hug-loving self. 

Catra was still a little tense when being touched by anyone but Adora, but it had been a long time since she’d last flinched back, and she was able to enjoy the gentle gesture of affection much more nowadays.

“Come on, Sparkles. We can go save your husband, and you two can get a good night’s sleep for once, how does that sound?”

“Alright. I’m in.” The Queen of Brightmoon smiled softly at her two best friends. “And – potential kitchen fires aside –, I’m sure you’ll do great.”


	2. Chapter 2

Angie was finally asleep, her tiny head of curly brown hair cuddled against her father‘s chest.

Bow was beyond exhausted, but he was happy.

She looked so cute when she was asleep.

...Admittedly, that wasn’t saying much because she was also very cute when she was awake. But he liked seeing her sleeping so peacefully.

His kids were incredible.

He would have been happy just hugging his wife and daughters until the end of time.

Speaking of his wife, he really, really hoped she would be back soon. She’d already been pretty tired before the meeting, and that had started hours ago. 

Neither of them had been sleeping much these past weeks, but even though he did his best helping the Queen of Brightmoon with her royal duties, there were things she had to do that he couldn’t – Bow wasn’t a sorcerer, exactly, and Glimmer loved connecting with the people of her kingdom by teaching them magic –, and others that he could have helped her with, but that she didn’t let him do because she was stubborn.

She drove him insane sometimes... but on the other hand, he loved how determined and strong-willed she was, just as much as he loved how giddy with excitement she still got about the simplest of things, even after all this time.

Glimmer was amazing. Sure, she had her flaws – but really, who didn’t. There was nothing Bow would have changed about the woman he loved, even if he could have. 

And there was nothing better in the galaxy than for your wife to also be your best friend, Bow was certain of that.

He was still contemplating whether or not he should put Angie into her crib because even though he had just spend over an hour trying to get his daughter to sleep, there was a part of him that longed to keep her in his arms just a little longer...

He almost jumped when the entire remaining best friend squad suddenly popped up on the bed behind him completely out of nowhere.

Most of the time, he was used to it and wasn’t startled anymore – Glimmer had been teleporting everywhere from a very early age on, her randomly popping up out of literally nowhere wasn’t exactly new to him –, but he had been so lost in the moment that they had really, really startled him.

“You know, we could have just walked, Sparkles,” Catra groaned.

She had gotten used to a lot of the weirdness since she’d first befriended them, and even learned to enjoy a lot of the weirdness – Melog was amazing and had helped her heal a lot, and the food here was amazing, and she still didn’t know what the heck the waterfall in the room she shared with Adora was for if it wasn’t for showering, but it looked nice, so she wasn’t complaining – but the teleporting was the one thing she would probably never get used to. 

It made her dizzy and kind of sick, and she was always completely disoriented after it, even when she knew where they were going and had been there before.

...alright, maybe Adora hugging her and rubbing her back to make her feel better afterwards did make it somewhat bearable, but that was the only thing she liked about it, and it wasn’t like she needed any excuses to touch her wife these days.

She still leaned into the movement, Adora lovingly drawing circles on her back until her queasiness subsided.

“...sorry, I just couldn’t wait to get to bed. It’s been a  really long day, and now I just want to get some sleep.“

Glimmer smiled at her sympathetically, then just collapsed backwards onto the mattress.

“Angie is actually asleep for once, so go ahead and sleep, yeah? I can go get her later tonight if she wakes up. You look exhausted.”

Bow sat down next to his wife, gently running his fingers through her hair, still holding their daughter in this other arm.

Glimmer smiled softly, her eyes already halfway closed, then look his hand in hers, squeezing it lovingly.

“You’re incredible, but you need sleep just as much as I do. Luckily for us, Catradora offered to take care of Angie for tonight, so you can just hand her over, and then we can peacefully cuddle for the next five to seven hours, what do you say?”

Catra and Adora both still blushed furiously whenever someone called them that. Scorpia had used it once after seeing them together several years ago, and somehow it had stuck.

“I told you to stop calling us that,” Catra grumbled, head still cradled into Adora’s neck.

Glimmer just grinned.

“Never happening. You two  _ are _ basically attached by the hip at this point.”

“I think someone is asking for some more of the PDA that annoys her so much the next time we go on a double date,” Adora said, winking, a smug grin spreading all over her face.

“Oh stars I love you so much.”

Catra kissed her wife lovingly, and this time Adora was neither pulling back nor complaining, so either she had decided that the glitter was worth it or the taste was gone. Not that it mattered. Catra was just happy about getting to kiss her again.

“Are you actually going to babysit or are you just going to stay on our bed making out all night? Because if it’s the latter I’d much prefer it if you could just take this back to your own room,” Glimmer commented, giggling wearily as she snuggled into her blanket.

“Yeah, sorry, you’re right, we- we’ll take her and let you two sleep,” 

Adora said, once again speaking way too fast.

She gestured at Catra to take the baby, then picked up the crib.

Her wife was sure normal people didn’t just carry around cribs like that, but the child needed to sleep somewhere and it would definitely not be the pillow nest that Melog had built. 

Catra kept on telling herself this was just because they missed having a family and wanted one, but at the same time, she knew that wasn’t it. 

Of course Melog wanted to have a family, she knew that much from the talks they’d had with each other over the years... but she also knew that Melog knew it was pretty much impossible they ever would. 

Which meant Melog nesting actually mirrored something else. Which definitely, definitely meant Catra had been spending too much time with Arrow.

She banned the thought all the way to the back of her head, still not exactly ready to face what she wanted because of all the potential grave mistakes and the memories that came along with it.

...Bow handing her the baby wasn’t exactly helping her forget, though.

He touched his daughter’s face tenderly one more time.

For now, Angie was doing a surprisingly good job at sleeping through their talking. Maybe Catra and Adora would have an easy night with her.

“You’re going to spend the night in your aunts’ room, alright? Your sister loves them, and I’m sure you’ll love them, too. You three haven’t exactly spent a lot of time alone with them yet, but you seem comfortable enough around them to sleep on their room tonight, alright? Mommy and I love you so much, and we‘ll miss you. I hate letting you out of my eyesight, especially now that you’re still so small, but your aunts are great and I would trust them with my life, so there’s no one else in the entire universe that I’d rather leave you with. And if anything goes wrong, mommy and I will be right here, okay?“ 

He messed up her curls a little when he stroked her head. 

“See you in the morning, baby girl.”

Glimmer was full on sobbing, damn it, she was too tired to be crying but Bow being so emotional over their kid made her heart melt into a puddle.

Adora had tears in her eyes as well.

Catra was too mesmerized by her niece snuggling into her chest to care about anything else.

“We’ll take good care of her, don’t worry.”

He nodded.

“I know you will. And... thank you.”

Adora smiled.

“Anytime.”

“I can’t believe Adora just kidnapped our bassinet,” Bow chuckled as the door closed behind their two best friends.

“Really? I absolutely can. I mean, this is Adora we’re talking about,” Glimmer commented, giggling.

The lights were off now, a calming dark surrounding them – not that it ever got entirely dark in here with the curtains not fully closed and the light of the moons and the stars shining through the window.

The stars... the thought never failed to amaze Glimmer. The thought that they were the first people on Etheria to see the stars in a thousand years was just... incredible.

“You... might have a point.”

He laughed as he sat down on the bed beside her, the soft mattress immediately giving in under his weight. 

“Feels weird, doesn’t it? It’s only been a few weeks, but sleeping without her in the room already feels... off, somehow. It’s so quiet all of a sudden.”

“Yeah.” He laid down beside her, facing her, and took her hands in his. “I miss her.”

“No kidding. Did you have to make me cry?” She cuddled close to him. “I love you. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too.” He smiled at her. “And now I believe we have a couple of weeks worth of sleep and cuddles to make up for.”

“Yeah. And maybe some... other stuff tomorrow, once I’ve slept properly.”

She gave him a quick kiss and smiled at him, clearly moments away from drifting into sleep.

He smiled.

“We’ll do whatever you want, love,“ he whispered, lovingly stroking her hair. “Now let’s get some sleep.”

“Can I be the little spoon tonight?”

“Of course, my Queen.”

He kissed her forehead and pulled her close as she turned her back to him, gently covering both of them with the soft blanket. Glimmer snuggled against him, her head resting against his neck.

She’d always been the most comfortable when she was close to him, although it had taken a while for her to entirely grasp what it was she was feeling.

And just like that, they fell asleep in each other’s arms, and finally got a decent night of sleep for the first time in weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was actually planning to just do this as a one shot and continue it in another one, but I have no self-control, so this happened.  
> I’m actually incredibly happy, because I love writing, but I got a little... burnt out with the stuff I was writing pre-spop-finale, and this is the first time in a way too long while that I actually genuinely enjoyed writing and had fun doing it and was actually kind of satisfied with what I was doing, so... yeah. Apparently this is what it took to drag me out of my months worth of frustrating writer’s block, who would gave thought?
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it, feedback would be much appreciated!
> 
> I don’t know when part three will be up, but I’m kind of on a roll at the moment, so... who knows!

**Author's Note:**

> Well... I’ve done it.  
> This is the first fanfiction about anything other than Star Wars that I’ve written and posted in several years.  
> I’ve always loved spop, since way back when the first season was released, but I never thought it would end up meaning as much to me as it does now.  
> It’s been three weeks and I’m still not over the final season.  
> I can’t remember when I was this happy with a series finale for the last time.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little one shot, feedback would be much appreciated.  
> If you find any spelling or grammar mistakes, feel free to tell me so I can correct them :)  
> There will likely be more fics in this universe, I have some more stuff planned but I can’t say how soon it will be done.


End file.
